Are you Body-Balanced?

These 5 easy tests will tell the truth about whether your body is working against you or for you.

Check your Function

THERE ARE SEVERAL TESTS YOU CAN PERFORM ON YOURSELF AT HOME TO DETERMINE IF YOU’RE BODY STRUCTURE IS OPERATING FUNCTIONALLY. PERFORMING THESE TESTS CAN HELP YOU TO GET TO KNOW YOUR BODY. YOU CAN DO A BEFORE AND AFTER CHECK ON YOURSELF AT THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY AND AT NIGHT, OR AT A TIME WHEN YOU DO NOT FEEL PAIN AND THEN AGAIN WHEN YOU DO. PERFORMING THESE TESTS IN THE ORDER DESCRIBED on this video and below will teach you about your structural integrity and will also HAve A THERAPEUTIC EFFECT on it.

TEST 1To start to explore your own body’s level of function. Stand in the center of a room and feel where your center of gravity falls. Get a feel for how your weight is distributed in your feet. Your weight should fall evenly left to right foot, and evenly front to back. If it doesn’t, that’s an indication that your center of gravity is unevenly distributed.

test 2The next test can be performed, by standing with your back against a wall. You should be able to feel 11 points of contact touching the wall naturally. Both of your heels should touch the wall, your calves, buttocks, shoulder blades and the back of your shoulders, and your head all without having to force any of those parts back against the wall. If any of these points are not touching the wall or feel like they are pressing against the wall unevenly from left to right, this indicates imbalance.

​Now, as you stand WITH YOUR BACK TO the wall, PIGEON-toe your feet putting your toes together and heels apart with your feet angled 45 degrees out at the heels. relax your stomach and shoulders. Now chECK IN WITH YOUR BODY TO SEE IF ANY OF THESE 11 POINTS ON THE WALL OR YOUR PAIN CHANGED. REMEMBER TO RELAX YOUR STOMACH AND BREATH WITH YOUR DIAPHRAGM SO THAT WHEN YOU BREATH IN YOUR STOMACH PROTRUDES OUT. STAY IN THIS POSITION FOR ONE MINUTE AND OBSERVE ANY CHANGES. IF YOU OBSERVE ANY CHANGES, THIS IS AN INDICATION THAT YOU HAVE A PELVIC IMBALANCE THAT IS CONTRIBUTING TO YOUR DYSFUNCTION AND POSSIBLY YOUR PAIN.

test 3THE next SELF-TEST IS TO SIT UP ON YOUR SIT BONES IN A HARD CHAIR. TRY TO FEEL IF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SIT BONES. IS ONE SIT BONE FURTHER FORWARD THAN THE OTHER? NEXT, ROCK YOU’RE YOUR PELVIS backwards AND forwards 10 TIMES allowing your spine to follow your pelvis in a relaxed manner and sit up and collapse.

​DO YOU FEEL HOW YOUR PELVIS AFFECTS YOUR ENTIRE SPINE? SO IF YOUR PELVIS ISN’T BALANCED THEN NEITHER YOUR SPINE NOR YOUR LEGS ARE GOING TO BE FUNCTIONING PROPERLY EITHER. THIS IS WHY mERIDIAN PHYSIOTHERAPY OFTEN FOCUSES ON CREATING BALANCE IN THE PELVIS FIRST. YOU CAN CHECK WITH THIS TEST BY ITSELF PERIODICALLY THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY TO SEE HOW OTHER THINGS ARE AFFECTING YOUR BODY'S FOUNDATION.

test 4A SIMILAR TEST IS PERFORMED LAYING FACE UP WITH YOUR KNEES BENT, AND YOUR FEET FLAT ON THE FLOOR. WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED TRY TO FEEL IF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN YOUR RIGHT AND LEFT LOW BACK OR PELVIS. YOU CAN EVEN USE YOUR HANDS TO REACH UNDER YOUR LOW BACK TO FEEL IF ONE SIDE IS HIGHER OFF THE GROUND THAN THE OTHER. FUNCTIONALLY, THERE SHOULD BE ENOUGH OF AN ARCH IN YOUR LOW BACK THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SLIP YOUR FINGERS UNDER YOUR BACK EVENLY ON BOTH SIDES. ​

​FROM THIS POSITION ON THE FLOOR, PUT YOUR RIGHT ANKLE ON YOUR LEFT KNEE, JUST ABOVE YOUR LEFT KNEECAP. WITHOUT USING YOUR HANDS OR ARMS, USING YOUR LOWER BODY ONLY, GENTLY PRESS YOUR LEFT KNEE AWAY FROM YOU UNTIL YOU FEEL A STRETCH. HOLD THIS POSITION FOR ONE MINUTE AS YOU RELAX YOUR STOMACH AND BREATH WITH YOUR DIAPHRAGM. MAKE A MENTAL NOTE OF WHERE YOU FEEL THIS STRETCH AND HOW IT CHANGES OVER THE PERIOD OF ONE MINUTE. REPEAT THIS STRETCH ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE. COMPARE YOUR RANGE OF MOTION AND WHERE YOU FEEL THE STRETCH. ANY DIFFERENCE WOULD START TO TELL A TRAINED MERIDIAN PHYSIOTHERAPIST WHERE THE IMBALANCE LIES IN YOUR BODY’S FOUNDATION, YOUR PELVIS, AND HOW TO ADDRESS IT. ​

test 5The last test is in a position ON YOUR BACK WITH YOUR LEGS UP ON A CHAIR OR COUCH OR THE LIKE. This exercise should not be performed by anyone in there second or third trimester of pregnancy. This test should be done for a full 5 minutes with a self assessment at the beginning and end of the 5 minute period. To perform this exercise, lie on your back, legs up on a couch or chair. Your knees and hips should be bent to 90 degrees and your legs relaxed with your butt still on the floor. Also relax your arms out to the sides. Breathe with your stomach.Are you able to lie your head down on the ground or do you feel like you need a pillow under your head? Are both of your shoulders on the ground evenly? With your arms out at 45 degrees, do your palms rest face up? Or do they have a tendency to roll palms down? Is your low back arched, flat, or uneven left to right? Does your buttocks feel even on the floor? Does it feel like your upper buttock is even left to right? Now check your lower buttocks. Is it even left to right? Now check your legs. Are your knees pointing straight up, or are they angled out? And, are they even left to right? If you have someone else in the room, you can ask them to tell you if your feet are angled out or in, and are they even left to right? IF THIS IS COMFORTABLE AND DOES NOT CAUSE ANY PAIN, REMAIN IN THIS POSITION FOR 5 MINUTES AND NOTE ANY CHANGES IN THE ABOVE AS YOU RELAX INTO THIS POSITION. REMEMBER TO RELAX YOUR STOMACH AND BREATH WITH YOUR DIAPHRAGM AS YOU ARE IN THIS POSITION.

OF NOTE, A fully functional person should, in a relaxed position and without effort, be able to rest their head on the floor without using a pillow. Your nose should point straight towards the ceiling. Both shoulders should rest on the floor evenly. Hands should fall palms up evenly. The low back should not have an arch on either side. The buttocks should feel even with the weight at about an inch above the tailbone. Knees and feet should angle out at about 5 to 10 degrees.

​THAT NOTED, DO NOT FORCE ANY OF THESE THINGS. RATHER, JUST RELAX AND ALLOW YOUR BODY TO MAKE THE CHANGES ON ITS OWN, NATURALLY AND WITHOUT YOUR EFFORT. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT FORCE ANY OF THESE CHANGES IN THIS POSITION IN ORDER TO RECRUIT THE CORRECT POSTURAL MUSCLES THAT SHOULD BE AT WORK HERE. Make sure you check all of these POINTS STATED ABOVE at the beginning and the end of the 5 minutes.

these tests are not only a good way to check your function, but they are also a small way to start to fix your imbalances if you do them every day. HOPEFULLY THE ABOVE TESTS ACTUALLY HELPED TO MAKE YOUR body more bALANCED which could ultimately help to reduce some of your pain. no matter what, THese tests WILL GIVE YOU A SIMPLE WAY TO DETERMINE IF THE OTHER ACTIVITIES YOU DO, OR LACK THEREOF, IN YOUR DAY ARE HELPING YOUR BODY WORK AGAINST YOU OR FOR YOU.

IF YOU SHOWED ANY IMBALANCE WITH THESE TESTS, this GENERAL EXERCISE SEQUENCE above MAY BE ENOUGH TO RE-BALANCE YOUR BODY AND GET YOU OUT OF PAIN. OF COURSE, EVERYBODY and every body IS DIFFERENT. AND CERTAIN ACCIDENTS, SURGERIES, TRAUMAS and compensations built up from years of imbalanced movement patterns MAY REQUIRE A personalized evaluation and exercise SEQUENCE TO OVERCOMe YOUR BODY’S specific IMBALANCES.

YOU CAN GET AN INDIVIDUALIZED evaluation and MERIDIAN PHYSIOTHERAPY corrective EXERCISE SEQUENCE by consulting with a Meridian physiotherapy therapist ONLINE via our live video portal or IN-PERSON in one of our clinics in san diego or huntington beach, ca. ​